Policy based storage configuration

• US 6,519,679 B2
• Filed: 06/11/1999
• Issued: 02/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Dell USA LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell USA LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Xu, Devireddy, Narayan
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): PEUGH, BRIAN R
• Application Number:
  US09/330,302
• Publication Number:
  US 20020133669A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,341 Days
• Field of Search: 711/114, 711/156, 711/161, 711/170, 713/1, 714/5, 714/11, 709/301, 709/212
• US Class Current: 711/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0629 Configuration or reconfiguration of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

A storage device configuration manager implemented in software for a computer system including a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and at least one storage device coupled to the processor, can advantageously allow a user having relatively limited knowledge to configure storage devices for use with specific applications. The storage device configuration manager includes a user interface allowing for selecting, editing, deleting, and/or activating storage polices. The storage policies include information useful for configuring the storage device to operate efficiently with a particular application, or within a particular user environment.

Claims

1. A storage device configuration manager for a computer system including a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and at least one storage device coupled to the processor, at least a portion of the storage device configuration manager being software executable on the processor and comprising:

a user interface operable to allow a user to perform at least one of;

creating a storage policy, selecting a storage policy, modifying a storage policy, deleting a storage policy, loading a storage policy into the memory, displaying contents of a storage policy, and causing a storage policy to be executed;

a policy engine operable to execute at least one command based on information from a storage policy, the at least one command for configuring the at least one storage device for operation;

a parser operable to extract the information from a storage policy and provide it to the policy engine; and

a host-based storage device controller at least partially executable on the processor and operable to execute at least a portion of the policy engine.

2. The storage device configuration manager of claim 1, wherein the user interface is a graphical user interface (GUI).

3. The storage device configuration manager for a computer system of claim 1 further comprising at least one wizard, the wizard operable to assist a user in performing at least one of creating a storage policy, selecting a storage policy, modifying a storage policy, deleting a storage policy, loading a storage policy into the memory, displaying contents of a storage policy, and causing a storage policy to be executed.

4. The storage device configuration manager for a computer system of claim 1 wherein the user interface is operable to provide the at least one command from a storage policy to the policy engine.

5. The storage device configuration manager for a computer system of claim 1 wherein the computer system includes a storage device controller coupled to the processor and the at least one storage device, and wherein at least a portion of the policy engine is software executable on the storage device controller.

6. The storage device configuration manager for a computer system of claim 5 wherein the policy engine is further operable to receive the information from a storage policy from the user interface.

7. The storage device configuration manager for a computer system of claim 5 wherein the at least a portion of the policy engine includes the parser operable to extract the information from a storage policy.

8. The storage device configuration manager for a computer system of claim 1 wherein the at least one storage device is a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) device.

9. The storage device configuration manager for a computer system of claim 1 encoded in a computer readable medium as instructions executable on the processor, the computer readable medium being one of a magnetic storage medium, an optical storage medium, and a communications medium conveying signals encoding the instructions.

10. The storage device configuration manager for a computer system of claim 1 further composing at least one storage policy.

11. The storage device configuration manager for a computer system of claim 10 wherein the at least one storage policy includes at least one of a virtual disk name, a RAID type, a virtual disk size, a stripe size, a read policy, a cache size, a write policy, and a cache policy.

12. The storage device configuration manager for a computer system of claim 10 wherein the at least one storage policy includes at least one of an application specific storage policy and a generic storage policy.

13. A computer system comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

at least one storage device coupled to the processor; and

a storage device configuration manager at least partially executable on the processor and at least partially stored in the memory, the storage device configuration manager comprising;

a user interface operable to allow a user to perform at least one of;

creating a storage policy, selecting a storage policy, modifying a storage policy, deleting a storage policy, loading a storage policy into the memory, displaying contents of a storage policy, and causing a storage policy to be executed;

a policy engine operable to execute at least one command based on information from a storage policy, the at least one command for configuring the at least one storage device for operation;

a parser operable to extract the information from a storage policy and provide it to the policy engine; and

a host-based storage device controller at least partially executable on the processor, wherein at least a portion of the policy engine in executable by the host-based storage device controller.

14. The computer system of claim 13 further comprising a storage device controller coupled to the processor and the at least one storage device, at least a portion of the policy engine being software executable on the storage device controller.

15. The computer system of claim 13 wherein the policy engine is further operable to receive the information from storage policy from the user interface.

16. The computer system of claim 13 wherein the at least one storage device is a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) device, the RAID device including at least one of a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, and a solid state storage device.

17. The computer system of claim 13 wherein the storage device configuration manager is encoded in a computer readable medium as instructions executable on the processor, the computer readable medium being one of a magnetic storage medium, an optical storage medium, and a communications medium conveying signals encoding the instructions.

18. The computer system of claim 13 further composing at least one storage policy.

19. The computer system of claim 13 wherein the at least one storage policy includes at least one of an application specific storage policy and a generic storage policy.

20. The computer system of claim 13 wherein the at least one storage policy includes at least one of a virtual disk name, a RAID type, a virtual disk size, a stripe size, a read policy, a cache size, a write policy, and a cache policy.

21. The computer system of claim 13 wherein the user interface is a graphical user interface (GUI).

22. The computer system of claim 21 further comprising at least one wizard, the wizard operable to assist a user in performing at least one of creating a storage policy, selecting a storage policy, modifying a storage policy, deleting a storage policy, loading a storage policy into the memory, displaying contents of a storage policy, and causing a storage policy to be executed.

23. The computer system of claim 13 wherein the user interface is operable to provide the at least one command from a storage policy to the policy engine.